Richardson returns to Sixers lineup

PHILADELPHIA — By most standards, Jason Richardson is not old. But at 31 years old and having played in the NBA for 11 seasons, Richardson is the most-tenured player on the Sixers’ roster.

Which, by default, kind of makes him the resident old guy.

“In sports, any time you hit 30, that’s like 55,” the Sixers’ Evan Turner said of Richardson. “He’s been through a lot of battles, man. … We look up to him.”

Richardson was back in the starting lineup Saturday night against visiting Houston, after sitting out Wednesday at Toronto. He was a healthy scratch that night, watching the loss to the Raptors in uniform with somewhat of a sore wrist, nothing more.

Maybe that was Collins’ way of preserving Richardson, ensuring that he gets the most out of his starting shooting guard. Maybe Richardson needed the well-timed timeout. Richardson entered the night shooting 4-for-18 from 3-point range this month, to go with a precipitously down per-game scoring average of 7.8 points.

“I’d like to start increasing his minutes and I talked to him about that a little bit (Friday),” Sixers coach Doug Collins said. “We really need him, not only his minutes but his voice and his leadership. He can enhance Jrue and Thad. They’re the three leaders on this team. J-Rich feels good about that.

“I don’t want J-Rich’s career to end with him being a salary-cap throw-in, where all of the sudden you get traded four or five times because your money works. I want him to end his career with dignity.”

n n n From the outside looking in, it’d be easy to say that the 76ers’ foundation is cracking. From inside the locker room, they don’t see it that way. The Sixers, before facing Houston, had lost 16 of 21 games.

“You have to get that first win before you get two in a row,” Collins said. “We’re not going to splinter.”

“This is the easiest part right now (for people) to be negative and say the obvious stuff that’s going wrong. Anybody can say that,” Turner said. “Tons of guys can sit here and say, ‘You guys aren’t doing this,’ or ‘You guys aren’t doing that.’ That’s obvious. We’re looking for the answer. I don’t think my teammates want to be down or drooping about it. Talking about all the bad stuff and in a negative way doesn’t help.”

n n n The last time the Sixers played the Rockets, Dec. 19 at Houston, James Harden got to the line 18 times. That night, the Sixers took 24 free throws collectively.

Containing Harden, the league’s top free-throw taker and maker (for the league’s top-scoring team), had to be at the forefront of the Sixers’ gameplan. Considering how infrequently the Sixers are getting to the line — 28th in the NBA in makes and takes from the line — getting outscored at the stripe by Harden was not an option.

n n n Kwame Brown was back with the team and available to play.

The veteran center, who hadn’t played since Jan. 5 at San Antonio, had missed the last two games while tending to a death in his family.